Various types of electromechanical locks are replacing the traditional mechanical locks. One problem associated with the replacement is that a normal electromechanical lock requires an external supply for electric power, or a battery inside the lock, or a battery inside the key. Wiring of the lock may become necessary, if there is a battery outside the lock, or mains and a voltage transformer with wiring.
To combat this problem, self-powered electromechanical locks are currently emerging: as disclosed in EP 0877135 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,026, for example.
Still, more refinement is needed, especially in order to make the self-powered electromechanical locks more user friendly, especially in terms of the generation of the electric power from the mechanical power, and keeping the user interface similar to that of a mechanical lock.